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European Journal of Contemporary Education, 2020, 9(1) Copyright © 2020 by Academic Publishing House Researcher s.r.o. All rights reserved. Published in the Slovak Republic European Journal of Contemporary Education E-ISSN 2305-6746 2020, 9(1): 235-247 DOI: 10.13187/ejced.2020.1.235 www.ejournal1.com WARNING! Article copyright. Copying, reproduction, distribution, republication (in whole or in part), or otherwise commercial use of the violation of the author(s) rights will be pursued on the basis of international legislation. Using the hyperlinks to the article is not considered a violation of copyright. The System of Public Education in Tiflis Governorate in the Period 1802–1917. Part 1 Anvar M. Mamadaliev a , b , *, Dmitrii V. Karpukhin c, Natalia V. Svechnikova d, Aude Médico e a International Network Center for Fundamental and Applied Research, Washington, USA b Volgograd State University, Volgograd, Russian Federation c Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russian Federation d Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation e University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Abstract This paper addresses the development of the education system in the Russian Empire during the pre-revolutionary period. Its geographic scope is confined to Tiflis Governorate, and its chronological scope covers the period of integration of the system of public education in Tiflis Governorate into the all-Russian system of public education and its centralization – 1802–1871 (this includes the “departmental” period, when there was in operation the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education (1817–1824)). The work provides a short analysis of key sources on the issue of the development of the public education system in pre-revolutionary Russia, a brief historiographical survey, an outline of Tiflis Governorate’s geographic, economic, and ethnic characteristics, and a summary of key issues relating to the topic’s periodization. The authors’ conclusion is that the process of integration of the system of public education in Tiflis Governorate into the all-Russian system and its centralization was completed by 1871. Throughout the country, there now was in operation a network of educational institutions with uniform standards in place with regard to school administration and curricula. This made it possible to move on to the next stage in the process of spreading literacy in the outlying regions of the Russian Empire – to enable more of its citizens to receive public education. Keywords: public education, Tiflis Governorate, gymnasium, primary school. 1. Introduction In the view of a number of researchers, the process of integration of the Caucasus’s education system into the imperial Russian system was quite complicated (Shevchenko et al, 2016: 363). * Corresponding author E-mail addresses: [email protected] (A.M. Mamadaliev) 235 European Journal of Contemporary Education, 2020, 9(1) To ease the integration process, attempts were made to create writing systems for the region’s ethnicities and design curricula factoring in the regional component (Shevchenko et al, 2016: 363). With that said, by the time of the fall of the monarchy and disintegration of the empire, having compulsory primary education in place was already a fait accompli throughout Russia (Cherkasov, 2011: 148). The present work examines the process of development of the education system in the Caucasus through the example of Tiflis Governorate. 2. Materials and methods In putting this work together, the authors drew upon the following materials: enactments, edicts, and other documents issued by pre-revolutionary authorities regulating the operation of the education system, as well as pre-revolutionary statistical reports. Specifically, this included the following: 1) ‘A Statistical Description of Transcaucasian Krai’, published in 1835 in Saint Petersburg by historian, ethnographer, statistician, and political writer O.S. Evetsky. It provides an originally in- depth analysis of the region’s geographic, biological, and economic characteristics, as well as well- detailed descriptions of the ethnic, numerical, estate/class, and (even) professional makeup of populated localities in the Caucasus, an account of the numbers and categories of public institutions (including schools), and much more (Statisticheskoe opisanie, 1835). 2) The Statute ‘On the Caucasus Educational District and Educational Institutions’ of October 29, 1853, issued by Emperor Nicholas I, accurately reflects the key trends in the government's reformation of the education sector in the Russian Empire. It illuminatingly illustrates the process of integration of educational institutions within the Caucasus Educational District (which incorporated Tiflis Governorate as well) into the all-Russian education system and their centralization. The authors analyzed this document particularly thoroughly, as they consider it fundamental to the integration of the Caucasus’s education system and centralization of education in the Russian Empire as a whole (Polozhenie ot 29.10.1853). 3) ‘A Statistical Digest on the Caucasus’, published in 1869 in Tiflis by Caucasus ethnographer N.I. Voronov, which likewise provides a consistent and in-depth ethnographic, economic, and social analysis of the region (Sbornik statisticheskikh svedenii, 1869). Of major interest is also so-called ‘Black Sea Letters’, published in the journal Russky Vestnik (Voronov, 1857). 4) ‘A Digest on the Caucasus’ (1871–1885). Two years later, there came out the first volume of a nine-volume digest under the editorship of world-famous Russian naturalist, statistician, and ethnographer N.K. Seidlitz. While focused pretty much on the same subjects as those mentioned above, the work devoted special attention to winemaking in the Caucasus (Sbornik svedenii o Kavkaze). In 1894, N.K. Seidlitz published ‘A Corpus of Statistical Data on the Population of Transcaucasia, with a Complete Alphabetical Index to the Region’s Cities and Villages’, which included a 10,000-item list (Zeidlits, 1894). 5) ‘Acts of the Caucasus Archaeographic Commission, 1881’, one of the 12 volumes published by the Main Office of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. The Caucasus Archaeographic Commission was established in 1864 by Viceroy of the Caucasus Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov. The publication provides descriptions of various statutory enactments issued in the Caucasus starting in the 14th century (AKAK). 6) ‘The First Nationwide Census in the Russian Empire, 1897’, published under the editorship of N.A. Troinitsky in the capital by the Central Statistics Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Rightfully one of the most valuable statistical sources out there, it provides vast information on the ethnic makeup of Russia’s population as at the end of the 19th century. In the context of the topic under study, of particular interest is Volume 18, which deals with Tiflis Governorate specifically (Vseobshchaya perepis' naseleniya, 1897). 7) ‘Complete Laws of the Russian Empire’, which is the most substantial source on the subject. It consists of three collections, and all three of them were used by the authors (in keeping with the work’s chronological scope). The first collection comprises 45 volumes (nearly 30,000 enactments) and covers the period 1649–1825. It was compiled and edited by M.M. Speransky, dubbed “a top connoisseur of Russian law”. The second collection includes 55 volumes (over 60,000 laws) and covers the period 1825–1881. The third collection incorporates over 40,000 236 European Journal of Contemporary Education, 2020, 9(1) statutory enactments, consists of 33 volumes, and covers the period from March 1, 1881 * (i.e. starting from the day Emperor Alexander II passed away) to the end of 1913 (PSZRI). 8) In the context of the topic under study, of interest is also ‘A Historical Survey of the Activity of the Ministry of Public Education (1802−1902)’, compiled by S.V. Rozhdestvensky and published in Saint Petersburg, which was dedicated to the completion of one hundred years’ work by the ministry (Istoricheskii obzor, 1902). This, of course, is by no means a complete list of sources on the subject, but the authors deemed it as sufficient for the conduct of an objective, comprehensive analysis of the topic under study. 3. Discussion There has not been much research into the development of the education system in the Caucasus in the pre-revolutionary period. This may be due to a number of reasons. Above all, it is the relatively narrow source base. An outline of most of the fundamental sources on the subject used by both historians and political writers has already been provided above. This information is widely available on the Internet – so there is nothing novel about it, as this was explored during the Soviet period quite extensively. Some of the information that is available on the subject, a relatively insignificant pool, has been scattered across multiple periodical pre-revolutionary publications (e.g., Zhurnal Ministerstva Narodnogo Prosveshcheniya). This suggests another difficulty – the need to explore a vast pool of information in order to obtain just a tiny nugget of information. Therefore, it is no wonder that many contemporary historians tend to “steer clear” of this subject, with most opting to employ only commonly known statistical information. However, the afore-said is not related to the pre-revolutionary period, when historians covered the making of the education system quite eagerly and meticulously.